is; IT 



(;m:a\in'(;s ix niuc cn/rrKic. 



iiii;, and, as Prof. Cook says, "the old rnion 

 has , !.•(»/ to ti.tjht livin.tj issues, or die." Why 

 not let it die? It has done its work, and ilitm.- 

 it most faithfully and well; and ri<j;lit here I 

 want to conunend most truly and heartily the 

 faithful and disinterested work of General 

 Manaj^er Newman, autl to say tha'. I l)elieve 

 him to have heen and still to be nu)st truthful 

 anil honest in all he has done; but, with many 

 others, I believe he has made a threat mistake 

 in the course he has pursued in regard to the 

 effort receixtly made to take a step forward. 



But a new organization has come into ex- 

 istence which proposes to fight, and is now 

 "fighting living issues," and for a "kid" it 

 seems to be doing fairly good work. 



Prof. Cook says, " I fulU- believe that one 

 or the other of tire present organizations will 

 die. The division is expensive; has no ex- 

 cuse, and the fruits of one strong vigorous or- 

 ganization will be abundantly greater than of 

 two struggling feeble ones. It will be a case 

 of survival of the fittest." I fully believe 

 Prof. Cook is right except in his second asser- 

 tion; so, why try to bolster up the old when a 

 vigorous, healthy "youngster" is in the field 

 to win. We care tenderly for the old and 

 decrepit, but we nurse and watch over and 

 help and guide the young. As secretary I 

 have quite a respectable bank accovmt for the 

 r. S. B. K. U., and I doubt not General Man- 

 ager Secor has a like commodity to its credit. 



As regards the second statement, " The di- 

 vision is expensive," I will say that I have 

 kept a little memorandum of how many and 

 who that have sent their dollar for member- 

 ship in the U. S. B. K. U. belong to the N. B. 

 K. U.; and, having just this moment received 

 a list of the names of those having sent their 

 dollar to General ^Manager Secor, I find that 

 about one in fifteen belongs to the old Union. 

 vSo it isn't a ver>' expensive affair after all. 

 The old Union has the "wherewith" with 

 which to cheer and gladden its declining years, 

 and it seems to me that none of the members 

 of the new Union will wish it any thing but a 

 peaceful old age. 



Many who send their dollar to the new- 

 Union were formerly members of the old, but 

 have dropped out because it was not ke2ping 

 up with the times, and are glad to aid the new- 

 Union in its important work. 



Of course, but comparatively few bee-keep- 

 ers will join any organization that aims to 

 work for their benefit. They may think, and 

 even say, that "others will do the work, and 

 adulteration will be done away with, and I get 

 the benefit just the same as though I paid in 

 my money." Every bee-keeper who sells 

 honey, every dealer in honey, and every one 

 who buys honey to use in manufacturing, or 

 to consume it as a delicious, healthful, and 

 toothsome sweet, is interested in the success 

 of the U. S. B. K. U. and its work, and //wn- 

 saiids of them ou,s;ht to send their dollar to 

 General ^Manager Secor instanter, and have a 

 hand in looking after their personal interest. 



Before the meeting of the N. A. B. K. A. at 

 Lincoln last OctoVjer, through ])ersonal corres- 

 pondence I knew- where Prof. Cook stood in 

 regard to the proposed plan of union, and he 



voted against it ])ecause he "believed quite a 

 number of the members did oppose it as un- 

 wise," and I ])resume a large majority of those 

 voting against the plan did so for the same 

 reason he did; but it always seems to me that 

 the way to make nuitters move in the right 

 direction is to look into them and decide on 

 what is the /-/t,'/// thing to do, and then do it, 

 regardless of what others think. 



Just here it occurs to me that it is a good 

 thing to keep both Unions in a lively growing 

 condition. I have the impression that the 

 National Union pays but half the expense of 

 defending a member who gets into trouble 

 with his neighbors. If this is true, and the 

 U. S. B. K. U. should follow the same plan, it 

 will be a splendid thing to belong to both. A 

 part of our apiary is located on a small city 

 lot within a few- feet of the homes of neighbors 

 on all sides, and the rest is on a vacant lot 

 just across an alley from the others, and fami- 

 lies with children live on all sides; and men, 

 women, and children get stung, but I keep 

 the swelling down with an occasional glass or 

 cupful of honey administered internally, at 

 intervals, before the stinging is done. 



Now-, I'm a member of both Unions ; and if 

 trouble comes I expect General Managers Se- 

 cor and Newman to take matters in hand and 

 pay all the bills. Room for only one organiz- 

 ation ? Whew ! Perish the thought ! and all 

 this for but a little over a dollar a year ! You 

 see the old Ihiion has had so much honey on 

 hand that, for several years, the Advisory- 

 Board, or, rather, the Genferal Manager, has 

 verj- kindly looked after oiir interests, and 

 told us it should not cost us a cent. Don't try 

 to kill either. Prof. Cook. Long may they 

 both live and prosper, if such is to be the re- 

 sult. 



Many are the good wishes that come to the 

 new Union. Why, even its enemies are be- 

 ginning to wish it w-ell — even the editor of 

 one of our bee-journals, who has admitted to 

 its pages most uncomplimentary and scathing 

 articles in regard to the new Union and some 

 of those engaged in forwarding its interests, 

 your humble servant included. A letter re- 

 ceived a few days ago in regard to the coming 

 Buffalo convention closes with this sentence : 

 ' ' Wishing the new- Union nmcli success, and 

 members a good and profitable meeting, I am, 

 etc." That shows the right spirit. 



It seems to me to be hardly necessary to 

 suggest, as Prof. Cook has done, that the 

 members of the old Union w-rite "to Manager 

 Newman ... to grapple with the question of 

 adulteration in California." We have an or- 

 ganization, one ofwho.se objects is to "grap- 

 ple" with that very evil ; and if Prof. Cook 

 and others will suggest such a course to Man- 

 ager Secor I've no doubt he'll look after the 

 matter, and .so not divert the money now in 

 the treasury of the National I'nion from the 

 purpose for which it w-as paid in, and no vote 

 will need to be taken. 



Your comments on Prof. Cook's article are 

 very good indeed; and when you say that A. 

 I. Root, one of the directors (Advisory Board) 

 would be in favor of having the old Bee-keep- 

 ers' Union " take up the line of work suggest- 



